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Saturday, November 3, 2012

The Mount of Olives adjacent to the walls of Jerusalem and revered by Christians, Jews and Muslims , is the scene of a new clash between Israelis and Palestinians by the Israeli decision to lift a military academy there who reject outright the Arab villagers. Large posters plastered on walls and fences in the Arabic and Hebrew announce plan approval to build an army training center, which provides military accommodate 400 students and more than a hundred officers and teachers, and give a deadline sixty days to make representations population against. "This is another step in Israel to gain control of the occupied Palestinian territory of East Jerusalem and, above all, control the land surrounding the Old City and the Holy Basin. The ultimate goal is that the eastern part of the city never become the capital of the Palestinian state, "said Ahmad Sub Laban Efe, the Israeli NGO Ir Amim. For Hagit Ofram, director of watching Israeli Settlements in the NGO Ajsav Shalom (Peace Now) the idea of building a military academy is not a problem, but "its location in one of the most sensitive and disputed areas of Jerusalem, is more that provocative " .

Mount Scopus to territory occupied in 1967

This is an eight-story building that will occupy four acres of land between the complex of the Lutheran World Federation (Augusta Victoria) and the Mormon University. Israel maintains that the site is part of Mount Scopus, where the Hebrew University is located and part of which is accepted internationally as Israeli territory since the creation of the State. Several NGOs and local people for their part argue that the complex will be built on Palestinian land occupied by Israel in 1967. "The area straddles between the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus, more in the former than in the latter, but it's definitely out of the enclave (Israel) , "he explains with maps Betty Herschman, Director of International Relations of Ir Amim. However, the Jerusalem municipal spokesman Barak Cohen said the school will be on Israeli territory that was already in 1948 and stressed that Jerusalem "welcomes national institutions with open arms" and that "there is no more appropriate place for this academy that the capital of the Jewish state and the Jewish people eternal heart ".

No room to grow

Jatem Jweis, resident of the Mount of Olives and activist believes that "Israel starts building infrastructure, then tuck the settlers, expands settlements and strangles local populations, they run out of space to develop." Like many of his neighbors, believes the plan is "unacceptable" and sees "very severe" fact "put more Israeli soldiers in the occupied Palestinian territory and among Palestinian civilians." "It's very problematic military bases get right outside our garden," he says, and notes that "Jerusalem is special to all religious people. Jerusalem No one is unique "This refers Ofran holiness when he asserts that one can not think of the Mount of Olives "in real estate terms." "It is important for the three monotheistic religions: Jewish cemetery has three thousand years, where the resurrection of the dead should begin when the messiah. For Islam, a thin bridge connecting the Temple Mount and the Mount at the end of days. And for Christians is a place connected with the life and death of Christ and where he spent his last days before his crucifixion, "he explains.

Violence in the sacred mountain

Ir Amim predicts that, if carried out the project, ll Evara much violence to the sacred mountain , whose slopes are in the Garden of Gethsemane, where, according to Christian tradition, Jesus withdrew to pray before being betrayed by Judas and arrested by the temple guards. The Defense Ministry spokesman Myriam Nahon said the decision to transfer military academies to Jerusalem aims to " relocate the military out of urban centers in the region of Gush Dan (Tel Aviv around), free land for the construction of thousands of homes and strengthen the areas of national priority." Nahon stressed that the project "will generate hundreds of jobs" and that "it is entirely within the city of Jerusalem, in an area planned for years for public buildings." He noted that "it is in the heart of the Palestinian population. "